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Update: Okay, I've figured out how to nominate the article for deletion and done so. Below is what I originally wrote. In summary, the reason I think this should be deleted is that none of the sentences have any discernible meaning but instead are just jumbles of undefined jargon words. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.145.92.145 ( talk) 19:31, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
I don't even know where to start listing everything that is wrong with this article. It just doesn't actually tell you anything, and the writing style is appalling. Every single sentence has a problem with it.
Since the late 1980s, firms around the world have launched Total Quality Management (TQM) programs
Wouldn't it make sense to tell the reader what TQM is before telling them about when and where it is used?
in an attempt to retain or regain competitiveness in order to achieve customer satisfaction
I thought businesses attempted to satisfy customers in order to stay competitive, not the other way round.
in the face of increasing competition from around the world in this era of globalization
This sounds like something out of an advert and doesn't add any information to the sentence.
TQM is an integrative philosophy of management
What does that mean? I can't even find a definition of 'integrative' in the business sense anywhere on Google.
for continuously improving the quality of products and processes
Okay, so we finally find out the purpose of TQM at the end of a fairly difficult and tiring first paragraph. Shouldn't this be the first thing about TQM we are told?
TQM functions on the premise that the quality of the products and processes is the responsibility of everyone who is involved with the creation or consumption of the products or services offered by the organization
How so? What does this actually mean?
In other words, TQM capitalizes on the involvement of management, workforce, suppliers, and even customers
Involvement in what? What kind of involvement? How does TQM capitalize on that involvement? I thought TQM was a philosophy of management; how does a philosophy capitalize on something? This is gibberish.
in order to meet or exceed customer expectations
Besides the fact that this again sounds like an advert, it once again is sufficiently vague to not really mean anything. For starters, is meeting or exceeding customer expectations merely the objective or is it something that has been observed to happen when firms use TQM? If so, how often - always, usually, sometimes? What kind of expectations are we talking about here?
Considering the practices of TQM
What does that mean?
as discussed in six empirical studies
Studies of what? Discussed in what way?
Cua, McKone, and Schroeder
Who are they and are they accepted as an authority on the subject?
identified the nine common TQM practices
Again, what does this mean?
cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement
What do any of those terms mean in this context?
By the end of the first section of the article, I still have no idea what TQM is, mainly because most of the sentences are devoid of actual meaning.
Then the article gets worse as we enter the six sigma section.
The Six Sigma process improvement
Wait, Six Sigma is a 'process improvement'? What does that mean here, exactly? According to the Six Sigma page, it's a 'business management strategy'. That doesn't sound like a 'process improvement' to me.
originated in 1986 from Motorola’s drive towards reducing defects by minimizing variation in processes through metrics measurement
Defects in what? Minimizing what kind of variation in which processes? Measuring what metrics? How does that relate to minimizing variation?
Applications of the Six Sigma project execution methodology
What's that?
have since expanded to include practices
What does it mean for an application of a methodology to expand to include a practice?
common in Total Quality Management and Supply Chain Management
What is Supply Chain Management and how is it relevant?
such as increasing customer satisfaction
How is that a practice? It sounds more like an outcome.
The main difference between TQM and Six Sigma (a newer concept)
Wait, TQM started in 'the late 1980s', and Six Sigma started in 1986, but is newer?
TQM tries to improve quality by ensuring conformance to internal requirements, while Six Sigma focuses on improving quality by reducing the number of defects and impurities
What do each of those mean, and how are they different from each other?
The whole article is just shit. Nowhere is it explained what TQM is or how it works. We don't know who uses it or how. How Six Sigma is even relevant to TQM is not clear, yet the section on Six Sigma is almost half the article. Can somebody please nominate this for deletion?
I've made significant changes to the article in order to improve the English and writing style, and to remove parts which simply don't make sense.
Firstly, I've removed both the claim that TQM originated in the late 1980s and the claim that Six Sigma, which originated in 1986, is 'newer', since these contradict each other so at least one must be false. I don't know which, so I'll leave someone to reintroduce one of the claims if they can source it.
Secondly, I've removed fluff from the first paragraph that didn't add any meaning, and stripped it down to the actual point that TQM is a management strategy which aims to improve the quality of products and processes. In particular:
Thirdly, I've condensed the first two sentences of the second paragraph into one sentence which contains all the information that the old two did.
Fourthly, I've deleted this sentence entirely: "Considering the practices of TQM as discussed in six empirical studies, Cua, McKone, and Schroeder (2001) identified the nine common TQM practices as cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement."
I did so because I believe it is too unclear to add anything to the article. It is unclear because:
Fifthly, I made several changes to the Six Sigma section:
![]() | This page is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Update: Okay, I've figured out how to nominate the article for deletion and done so. Below is what I originally wrote. In summary, the reason I think this should be deleted is that none of the sentences have any discernible meaning but instead are just jumbles of undefined jargon words. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.145.92.145 ( talk) 19:31, 6 January 2011 (UTC)
I don't even know where to start listing everything that is wrong with this article. It just doesn't actually tell you anything, and the writing style is appalling. Every single sentence has a problem with it.
Since the late 1980s, firms around the world have launched Total Quality Management (TQM) programs
Wouldn't it make sense to tell the reader what TQM is before telling them about when and where it is used?
in an attempt to retain or regain competitiveness in order to achieve customer satisfaction
I thought businesses attempted to satisfy customers in order to stay competitive, not the other way round.
in the face of increasing competition from around the world in this era of globalization
This sounds like something out of an advert and doesn't add any information to the sentence.
TQM is an integrative philosophy of management
What does that mean? I can't even find a definition of 'integrative' in the business sense anywhere on Google.
for continuously improving the quality of products and processes
Okay, so we finally find out the purpose of TQM at the end of a fairly difficult and tiring first paragraph. Shouldn't this be the first thing about TQM we are told?
TQM functions on the premise that the quality of the products and processes is the responsibility of everyone who is involved with the creation or consumption of the products or services offered by the organization
How so? What does this actually mean?
In other words, TQM capitalizes on the involvement of management, workforce, suppliers, and even customers
Involvement in what? What kind of involvement? How does TQM capitalize on that involvement? I thought TQM was a philosophy of management; how does a philosophy capitalize on something? This is gibberish.
in order to meet or exceed customer expectations
Besides the fact that this again sounds like an advert, it once again is sufficiently vague to not really mean anything. For starters, is meeting or exceeding customer expectations merely the objective or is it something that has been observed to happen when firms use TQM? If so, how often - always, usually, sometimes? What kind of expectations are we talking about here?
Considering the practices of TQM
What does that mean?
as discussed in six empirical studies
Studies of what? Discussed in what way?
Cua, McKone, and Schroeder
Who are they and are they accepted as an authority on the subject?
identified the nine common TQM practices
Again, what does this mean?
cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement
What do any of those terms mean in this context?
By the end of the first section of the article, I still have no idea what TQM is, mainly because most of the sentences are devoid of actual meaning.
Then the article gets worse as we enter the six sigma section.
The Six Sigma process improvement
Wait, Six Sigma is a 'process improvement'? What does that mean here, exactly? According to the Six Sigma page, it's a 'business management strategy'. That doesn't sound like a 'process improvement' to me.
originated in 1986 from Motorola’s drive towards reducing defects by minimizing variation in processes through metrics measurement
Defects in what? Minimizing what kind of variation in which processes? Measuring what metrics? How does that relate to minimizing variation?
Applications of the Six Sigma project execution methodology
What's that?
have since expanded to include practices
What does it mean for an application of a methodology to expand to include a practice?
common in Total Quality Management and Supply Chain Management
What is Supply Chain Management and how is it relevant?
such as increasing customer satisfaction
How is that a practice? It sounds more like an outcome.
The main difference between TQM and Six Sigma (a newer concept)
Wait, TQM started in 'the late 1980s', and Six Sigma started in 1986, but is newer?
TQM tries to improve quality by ensuring conformance to internal requirements, while Six Sigma focuses on improving quality by reducing the number of defects and impurities
What do each of those mean, and how are they different from each other?
The whole article is just shit. Nowhere is it explained what TQM is or how it works. We don't know who uses it or how. How Six Sigma is even relevant to TQM is not clear, yet the section on Six Sigma is almost half the article. Can somebody please nominate this for deletion?
I've made significant changes to the article in order to improve the English and writing style, and to remove parts which simply don't make sense.
Firstly, I've removed both the claim that TQM originated in the late 1980s and the claim that Six Sigma, which originated in 1986, is 'newer', since these contradict each other so at least one must be false. I don't know which, so I'll leave someone to reintroduce one of the claims if they can source it.
Secondly, I've removed fluff from the first paragraph that didn't add any meaning, and stripped it down to the actual point that TQM is a management strategy which aims to improve the quality of products and processes. In particular:
Thirdly, I've condensed the first two sentences of the second paragraph into one sentence which contains all the information that the old two did.
Fourthly, I've deleted this sentence entirely: "Considering the practices of TQM as discussed in six empirical studies, Cua, McKone, and Schroeder (2001) identified the nine common TQM practices as cross-functional product design, process management, supplier quality management, customer involvement, information and feedback, committed leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional training, and employee involvement."
I did so because I believe it is too unclear to add anything to the article. It is unclear because:
Fifthly, I made several changes to the Six Sigma section: